Advice for When You Apply These Ideas

As a manager, the relationship between yourself and your team—and its constituent individuals—is by far the most important relationship you need to manage, even more than the relationship between yourself and your boss. (With any luck, your boss has also read this course, and will be focused on the most important relationship they have, that is to say, the relationship of them to their team, which includes you.) Keep team accountability clear and distinct from individual accountability, as best you can, and make sure that your poor performers get the coaching they need, and your exceptional performers get the challenges they crave.

Remember that these are people, not components or machines, and they are going to be non-deterministic in how they respond and react to when and how you hold them accountable. For some, the word “accountability” will come off as “blame,” so be ready to make your intentions clear—and follow through with your actions—when discussing when and how you are going to hold your team accountable. Be clear on which processes and activities are “critical path,” and which are “nice to have,” so your team members can prioritize correctly.

Remember, too, that accountability does not mean “blame”—make sure that your accountability includes both recognition of objectives met as well as the ones that haven’t been met. Holding people responsible to outcomes—not effort—helps to objectivize the performance, and makes it clear that you care less about “how” they do their job, and more about “what” their outcomes are. (When you care too much about the “how,” you’re either on the edge of or deep inside Micromanagement Territory.)

Above all, if you remember only one thing, it’s this: Keep that line of communication open with each of your team members, best accomplished by that regular practice known as the “one-on-one”. It is, by far, the most important tool in your toolbox to maintaining a strong and healthy connection to each member of your team.